Emmys: Sean Spicer Makes Surprise Appearance to Riff on Trump Crowd Size Presser

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer made an unexpected appearance Sunday night during the monologue of the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Appearing behind a moving podium akin to Melissa McCarthy’s notorious impersonation of him on Saturday Night Live, Spicer appeared to gauge the audience for this year’s Emmy Awards.

“This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period. Both in person and around the world,” Spicer said, referencing the now infamous press conference he gave regarding the crowd at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration in January.

“Wow, that bruised my fragile ego,” host Stephen Colbert said after Spicer’s comments, before adding, “Melissa McCarthy, everybody!” as the camera showed the actress laughing in the audience.

Following his resignation from the White House position, Spicer told The Hollywood Reporter: “I’ve been humbled by the amount of interest, and now that I’ve completely left government, I’ll be looking to engage in those discussions.”

Earlier this week, Spicer appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he discussed the crowd-size presser. “I think in all seriousness that, whether you voted for him or not, the president won the election, he faced a lot of headwinds, and I think there was a faction of people out there that didn’t want to give him the credit he deserved,” Spicer said. “I think a lot of times he takes that personally.”

When Kimmel pressed Spicer on the issue, citing photographs from former President Barack Obama’s inauguration and Trump’s, Spicer said, “Look, your job as press secretary is to represent the president’s voice and to make sure you are articulating what his visions are on policy, on issues and on other areas that he wants to articulate. Whether or not you agree is not your job. But ultimately he’s the president, he decides, and that’s what you sign up to do.”

While Spicer’s appearance at the Emmys on Sunday night was met with applause in the room, some fans on Twitter were not as excited to see the former press secretary, where many accused the show — and comedians like Kimmel and Colbert — of “normalizing” Spicer.